The 13th Amendment (1865) Flashcards
What did the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) do?
- It formally established freedom for all African Americans by abolishing slavery
- It meant for the first time that all African American’s could: worship freely, travel freely, have an education, own property
Why was it, and still is, so difficult to amend the US constitution? What did he manage to do?
Lincoln needed a 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress before the amendment would be formally signed by the Supreme Court. The amendment also needed the support of 3/4 of states. He managed to unite enough Republicans and Democrats to vote in favour of the amendment.
How did Lincoln manage to pass the 13th Amendment?
He had told his Cabinet colleagues and congressional allies to do whatever it took to get it through the House. This included government posts and financial bribes for Democrats.
What did the radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens claim subsequently after the passing of the 13th Amendment?
That ‘the greatest measure of the nineteenth century was passed by corruption, aided and abetter by the purest man in America’.
What were the reasons for the passing of the 13th Amendment?
1) The Republican feeling was that slavery was the underlying cause of the Civil War in 1861 - and the secession of Southern states
2) The Civil War was the most traumatic event in the history of the USA - it has cost the lives of 620,000 Americans
3) Much controversy surrounded the Emancipation Proclamation - it was a war measure that would be of dubious validity once the war had ended - it also made no direct mention of slaves who resided in the North
4) Lincoln felt that a constitutional amendment, rather than a law, was the best and indeed the only proper way to abolish slavery
5) Additionally, abolition was a moral issue, especially for abolitionists such as the Women’s National Loyal League
6) Black agency also played a part in the passage of the Amendment
From when did abolition of slavery become a northern war aim, and when did Lincoln take it as a mandate to end forever?
From 1863, it was a northern war aim - in November 1864, when Lincoln was reelected - he took it as a mandate to end slavery forever.
How did the House vote on the 13th Amendment in 1865?
It was passed by a mere 2 votes to ensure the necessary 2/3 majority - 119 votes to 56 votes.
What was the importance of the 13th Amendment?
- It wiped out $2 billion in property, as slaves were owned by white slave-owners
- It created four million new freedmen in the USA
- Congress and many northern states passed legislation that began to break down the second-class position of black Americans
- Black witnesses now allowed in federal court cases - they could also be postmen and ride on streetcars in Washington DC - and Civil servant jobs opened
- In 1872, the first African American senator and congressmen were elected
Who was Frederick Douglas?
Lived 1818-95. After his escape from slavery, he became the most famous and effective black abolitionist. He campaigned for black equality during and after the Civil War.
What did Frederick Douglas say about the 13th Amendment? To him what did the struggle to pass it suggest?
- ‘The work does not end with the abolition of slavery, but only begins’
- To him, the struggle to pass it demonstrated the white anxiety about the implications of the release of several million black slaves
- He knew that there were many limitations on future black progress, amongst which were the economic, social and political realities of life in the post-war South and the attitude of Congress and the President toward black equality
What was the significance of the changed economic position of ex-slaves?
- The Civil War was over and now ‘ex-slaves’ were legally free
- Many ex-slaves had no education, no job, no property, no money to buy equipment or enjoy their lives
- Over 90% of them were illiterate
- Most migrated into urban areas looking for work, they were met with racial discrimination
- Some land was given to African American’s by William T. Sherman.
- Many northern abolitionists thought that they would be issued land by the government - in 1866 the US congress tried, but only a tiny percentage of black Americans formed their own farms
What did William T. Sherman issue to African Americans?
“Special field order No. 15” giving 400,000 acre of land to newly emancipated slaves into acres sections - 40 acres and a mule
What were the obstacles that stood in the way of ex-slaves becoming independent farmers?
- Lacked experience and education to become their own ‘masters’
- Lacked the money to buy necessary equipment and tools to work land, and also the money to buy land
- Southern white Americans reluctant to sell land to ex-slaves
- Plantation owners wanted to replace the slave system with a system of cheap black labour - so many ex-slaves worked on plantations for low wages
Explain sharecropping.
- New economic schemes developed because many ex-slaves were without work
- Landowners subdivided large plantations into small farms of 30-50 acres under a rental agreement - rented land in return for half the crop production
- The white landowners provided the land, seed and tools, while the black tenants supplied the labour
- White landowners benefitted - it gave them power and influence over their tenants
- It accelerated after the economic depression of 1873
- By 1880 - 80% of land in the cotton-producing area of the USA was farmed by sharecroppers
How did sharecroppers raise money to buy equipment and seed?
The crop lien system:
- They had to use the local credit system where they borrowed money at very high interest rates
- As sharecroppers possessed little or no property as capital against a loan, they were forced to offer part of their future crop of they failed to pay back their loans.
